SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — More than 24 hours after a shooting killed two people and injured 6 more at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints meetinghouse, the search for suspects continue.
What we know about the LDS meetinghouse shooting that killed two and injured six
Jess Anderson is the former commissioner of Utah’s Department of Public Safety. He isn’t involved in this investigation but brings 25 years of experience, including 7 as the head of DPS, and insight to what investigators may be facing. Anderson said, “It’s kind of the game ‘Clue.’ It’s it’s the whole ‘What? Where? How? Who? When? [and’ Why?’ All of the questions that you’re trying to figure out very quickly.”
One challenge in this particular case can be its location. The church sits on Redwood Road with several access points to the highway nearby.
Anderson explained that investigators rely on good information from witnesses, including video, in order to track down where they could of went. He detailed, “That’s the predicament. That you just have no clue where these suspects have even already gone. And so, even though you inundate the area, without good witnesses or people who can give you a good information a lot of time then you’re you’re behind the curve.”
Former Public Information Officer speaks on investigation process following LDS Church shooting
In the chaos of an event with multiple victims, suspects can be among the injured getting treatment or even mixed in with witnesses. Anderson described how police work quickly to sort through everyone involved. “There’s a tendency for officers and and rightly so that everybody gets treated as a suspect in a way until we can decipher and understand who truly is a suspect and who is not.”
He continued, “That’s why, you know, you can never make judgments based upon first initial [observations]. Some people might be in custody or detained. Well, it’s only for us to be able to find out who’s who.”…